Systems exist for navigating through a three dimensional environment to display three dimensional data. The three dimensional environment includes a virtual camera. The virtual camera has a perspective that defines what three-dimensional data to display to a user. By changing the position and orientation of the virtual camera, a user can navigate through the three dimensional environment.
One type of system that uses a virtual camera to navigate through a three dimensional environment is a geographic information system. A geographic information system can provide for the archiving, retrieving, and manipulating of data that has been stored and indexed according to geographic coordinates of its elements. A geographic information system can provide for the display of a three dimensional model of a globe, such as the Earth. The three dimensional model can include satellite images texture mapped to terrain, such as mountains, valleys, and canyons. Further, the three dimensional model can include buildings and other three dimensional features.
A user can request to move a virtual camera between two different camera viewpoints. When moving between different camera views, camera parameters are typically interpolated during the camera traversal. If the initial and final camera views are highly tilted relative to the three dimensional model, the midpoint of the traversal can also be highly tilted. For instance, if the initial tilt angle is 55 degrees and the final heading is 35 degrees, the tilt angle at the middle of the camera traversal will be 45 degrees. This can be disorienting for a user and can cause the user to lose context during the camera traversal.